Today Carnival Cruise Line made two major announcements that will greatly impact the future of Carnival's fleet of cruise ships. The first part of Carnival's major announcement is a third Vista Class cruise ship will enter Carnival's fleet in 2019. The Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon, which will be launched in 2018, will be this ship's sister ships. The new 2019 ship has not yet been named. This new ship was originally scheduled to be built for P&O Australia, which is another Carnival Corporation brand. Since P&O Australia is not getting this ship anymore, the Carnival Splendor will be leaving the Carnival fleet and will join P&O Australia. The Carnival Splendor will transfer cruise lines in 2019. It may be a while before we know more about this 2019 Vista Class ship. In the upcoming future, hopefully Carnival will release some details on the Carnival Horizon's 2018 cruises.

For more details please check out Carnival's press release by clicking here. This will open in a new browser window away from RyG's Cruise Guide.

Royal Caribbean International recently announced bookings have opened for cruises to Cuba. The Empress of the Seas will be the first Royal Caribbean ship to sail to Cuba. The Empress of the Seas will begin its cruises to Cuba in April 2017 from Miami, but in May the ship will reposition to Tampa and continue doing cruises to Cuba. The Empress of the Seas' first cruise to Cuba will depart Miami on April 19, 2017, and will be a 5 night cruise. This 5 night cruise will dock in Havana, Cuba, and as well as Puerto Costa Maya in Mexico. Following this first cruise to Cuba, the Empress of the Seas' will depart from Tampa for more Cuba cruises. The ship has departures on April 30 and May 20 that will both stop in Havana, Cuba, at some point in the cruise. The Empress of the Seas is also scheduled to sail Cuba in the Summer of 2017, according to Royal Caribbean's press release. When I looked on Royal Caribbean's booking engine, these cruises were not yet available for booking, but since the summer months are approaching I would think these cruises would have to be posted as soon as possible. The Empress of the Seas' will sail 4 and 5 night cruises from Tampa to Cuba during the summer months. Royal Caribbean's press release notes that these cruises are not yet available, but information will be available soon. For more details, I recommend reading Royal Caribbean's full press release. Click here to view Royal Caribbean's press, which will open in a browser window away from RyG's Cruise Guide.